One of Lady Macbeth’s arms is held outstretched, giving her figure additional dominance over the piece. Unlike John Everett Millais’ painting The Somnambulist-another famous depiction of sleepwalking-there is a lot of activity in this painting. It’s almost like Fuseli is using theatrical lighting in his own little private performance of the play. Her pale face and hands also draw the viewer’s attention.
While the background is very dark, she is dressed in a light-colored nightgown. However, as the viewer knows, it is impossible for Lady Macbeth to escape her own intangible guilt.įuseli uses color and contrast to highlight Lady Macbeth within the piece. The flame of her candle tells the viewer that she is moving quickly, almost as though she is being pursued by her victims. She strides through the castle with wild energy. I think, but dare not speak.The expression of horror on the face of Fuseli’s Lady Macbeth is the perfect illustration of the psychological disturbance the doctor describes. My mind she has mated, and amaz'd my sight. Remove from her the means of all annoyance,Īnd still keep eyes upon her. More needs she the divine than the physician. To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets Unnatural deedsĭo breed unnatural troubles infected minds
In the play, the doctor explains her behavior in the following words: Foul whisperings are abroad. A doctor and attendent in the background look on in surprise, puzzled by her strange behavior. While asleep, she tries obsessively to wash her hands convinced that they are stained by blood. Here, we see Lady Macbeth-having previously killed the king-bemoaning her guilt as she sleepwalks through the castle. The painting depicts a key moment from Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. The Sleepwalking Lady Macbeth is a particularly spooky (perfect for Halloween) example of Fuseli’s dark and dramatic art. Simply put, Fuseli’s art revels in the weird and dramatic. Although his work encompassed a variety of topics, his most memorable pieces touch on the liminal space between ordinary life and the world of supernatural horrors. His work is extreme and theatrical, capturing moments of horror, pain, and intense human emotion on the canvas.
That’s why I find myself drawn time and time again to the art of Henry Fuseli. Shakespeare creates a black atmosphere through the words used and the fact that this scene is played in complete darkness with the exception of one candle, which Lady Macbeth keeps close by her.I love drama in art. She is lamenting the murders of Lady Macduff and Banquo and she appears to see blood on her hands claiming that nothing will ever wash it off. Looking back at her introductory scene, it was Lady Macbeth who had always wanted absolute darkness while now she is reduced to a paranoid obsession with the light of the candle which she does not keep apart even for a moment. The candle also cuts across a pathetic image for Lady Macbeth, being her only companion, highlighting her loneliness and Macbeth's neglect towards her. According to some critics, it might well be that she died due to the fire caused by an accidental fall of the candle. The candle may well be the actual reason of her death. Alternatively, it may also be seen as an infernal image that underscores her predicament of sinfulness.
If we take her sleep-walking speech to be a kind of self-confession of the dark deed, the candle may be seen as an image of burning repentance that re-humanizes her character in the final moment of her life. The candle which accompanies Lady Macbeth in her sleep-walking act is functional as a metaphor in different ways.
0 kommentar(er)
